More School Visits, Science experiments and even more food!

After a short recovery from Okhaldunga we then set off for Bhalebas after making a short stop off at the office to pick up Dan and to get a bag of resources and the equipment that was needed for the science experiments that the teachers who attended the teacher training chose. After a bouncy jeep ride up to Saran’s house as we had a lot of things that he had ordered in Tansen, and I also had bought a couple steel shelves that I was giving him. Saran’s dad also came up with some bits for his new house, which was nice. Saran’s old house as I’ve mentioned before was sadly ruined in the earthquake last April, and he has only just finished his new house which is wonderful. Very different to the old traditional house that he lost but it is a wonderful building and is making a great home for his family.

Shortly after arriving at Saran’s house we had some tea and made the short walk down to the school where we were very warmly welcomed by the staff group with Tikka and flower garlands and after a short chat in the office it was time to go and observe some lessons. Rob and Sam went off to observe a science lesson and I was able to observe a few lessons and see how the library was used and all of the ways that the teachers had to record what they were using and lending out.

As always I was very impressed with the ways that the teachers made the lessons as interesting and interactive. One of the female teachers was acting out a passage from the book and the children were engaged and were clearly really enjoying the lesson. Although I do not speak Nepali it’s pretty easy to follow what’s going on when the lessons are animated. So after a morning of great lessons we walked back to Saran’s house for lunch. Santi, Saran’s wife, had cooked us a wonderful lunch that was really tastey. I haven’t found myself bored of curried vegetables and rice in the time that I’ve been here so far and I don’t think that time will ever come, the food here is just too good. After lunch we then walked back into school where one of the teachers had hurried back to school once he heard that Rob and Sam where in school eager to show them the experiment that he had chosen.

He was doing chromatography and after figuring out that that paper that he had brought to class was card and not blotting paper we were able to watch him do a demonstration for the children and then split the class into groups so they could do it themselves. Then what we all thought that was really great was that he then had a conversation with the class and was able to discuss why the normal card didn’t work and why the blotting paper did. He was able to extend the children’s learning through a small mistake that I was really impressed with.

That evening we then all bunched up in front of Saran’s TV and watched a film, which was really odd as his TV is the only one I’ve seen whilst being here and it must be said of all of the things that I miss from home, watching TV is definitely not one of them.

Wednesday the 27^th we then had a 45 minute uphill climb to Kokal School. Although I’ve been here a while now this was my first visit and I can’t explain how wonderfully impressed I was when we arrived. Kokal only has 28 pupils now and is only from Nursery to class 3. I observed one lesson that the head teacher was teaching with class 2 and if I’m honest I don’t think that I would have taught it any differently. He made great use of the zone board, the pot of fairness and was getting the children out of their seats for conversations and was also making the conversations relevant to the children so it made more sense to them. One of the things that was most obvious to Dan and I was that the children were used to doing this so we could see that this wasn’t just a one off because we were there, which can sometimes be the case. Then after that the children were all outside focused on tasks sitting on mats with the guidance of their teachers.

We were then due to go on another school visit on Thursday 28^th however Sam’s back was a bit sore as we’ve spent a lot of time in jeeps over the past few days and they’re by no means a comfortable mode of transport so Dan, Saran and I were planning to go. Dan then called on Wednesday evening to say that he was feeling under the weather so we had to give the visit a miss.

Rob and Sam went to visit Abhi’’s school for the morning to see the difference between a government state paid school and a private school. They then came to the conclusion, not unlike the UK, that there are many good government schools and apart from the facilities there wasn’t much difference in the teaching. Rob was unexpectedly asked to teach a couple of sessions before he made an escape and they met up with Saran and I so Saran could say his goodbyes. They then went shopping to get all of their bits to take home with them and I caught up on some paper work. That evening Sam, Rob, Dan, Bimila and I went out for supper which was lovely as always.

Rob and Sam then walked to Rani Ghat and back on the Friday. I had the intention of going and set my alarm, unfortunately I woke up with a horrible cold so spent the day pretty much in bed. Although, judging by how exhausted Rob and Sam were when they got back I don’t think I’d have made it home.